The complaint alleges that a patent agent for San Diego-based
Sequenom tipped his actual brother with inside
information, which that brother then sent to his frat
brother, Cohen.

The patent agent reportedly heard about two corporate events
involving Sequenom before the information was publicly released:
Sequenom's offer to acquire Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS) and
Sequenom's announcement that previously announced test data from
its Down syndrome screening test could no longer be relied upon.

According to the SEC, after Cohen received the tips, he used an
outdoor pay phone to tip his uncle, David Myers, of Cleveland,
who then traded on the illegally obtained information and earned
more than $600,000 by doing so.

In a parallel criminal proceeding, the U.S. Attorney's Office for
the Southern District of California filed charges against both
Cohen and Myers.